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ElwoodWiki:Style Manual
The following is a comprehensive guide to writing acceptable articles for characters on ElwoodWiki. See Category:Good articles for articles that follow this manual and are great examples for other character articles. 1. The infobox 1.1. The template is required to be used on every character article. 1.2. The infobox should be the first thing on every page; Top-page quotes are to be written after the infobox. 1.3. The only acceptable area inside the infobox that an issue number may be stated outside a tag is in the |first appearance= and |final appearance= parameters. 1.4. The following can be pasted into the source code area of the article to ensure full usage of the infobox. 1.4.1. |name= should contain the first and last name of the character. If a middle name is known, it should not be in this parameter. The infobox is made to automatically fill this parameter with the name of the article, so it usually doesn't need to be changed. 1.4.2. |image= should be a recent, good-quality image of the character. Sections of speech bubbles are the only things that can be edited out of an image, everything else must stay. 1.4.2.1. If a character appears in both Elwood and Elwood High, it is usually good (but not strictly required) to make a tabber that shows both character designs. In the infobox, that looks like this: |image= Image1.png|2023 Image2.png|2014-15 If the character is minor and has infrequent appearances, it is okay to just use a recent, good-quality image and not have a tabber. 1.4.3. |life status= states whether the character is "Alive" or "Deceased". If the character was last seen alive, write "Alive" plus "(as of 2023)", filling in the last time they were seen alive. Then, use a tag to note the last issue this character was seen living. For example: "Last seen in Issue 191." If a character is deceased, the "as of" date is not needed. Just use a tag to state the issue in which the character died, how they died, and who killed them. Don't be too wordy. 1.4.4. |born= gives the day or closest approximated date a character was born. If a character was in school during Elwood, we can approximate the year they were born. Put the template inside a tag to do this. To use , the first parameter takes a number (their grade in school during 2014-15) and the second parameter takes an "m" or an "f", their sex. All together, it should look like this: , which results in this: : 1.4.5. |died= gives the day or closest approximated date a character died. See ElwoodWiki:Dating conventions on how to find dates from issues. 1.4.6. |species= and |sex= are similar in that they both can be reliably assumed. We can almost always decipher a species by their ears and nose, and if it is still unclear, there is probably an ongoing debate about it. Sex/gender is almost always evident, but when it's not, leave this parameter empty. 1.4.7. |race= should only be put when it is explicitly stated and must be cited. We can usually piece together the races of the relatives of people whose race has been explicitly stated. For example, since Francine is confirmed as white, Catherine is also confirmed white because they have the same two parents. This must be explained in the tag for Catherine's race. 1.4.8. |religion= and |occupation= are straightforward, but they must have citations. "Student" is never considered an occupation. 1.4.9. |other names= includes names that the character often goes by or is referred to that is not their full given name. This includes nicknames used more than once and commonly used formal titles (such as "Miss Deegan" for Wanda Deegan and "Mrs. Barnes" for Sharon Barnes). "Other names" should have multiple citations that prove this nickname is used frequently. 1.4.10. |relatives= lists the character's family, not including spouses. The order of listing family members is not super strict or important, but one good rule is this: Parents > Siblings > Children > Grandparents > Aunts/Uncles > Nieces/Nephews > In-laws > Others. When someone is dead, use the template after their name (it includes a space in the template so don't put a space after the name). If a relative's actual name is not known, just link their relation. For example, if Alan's mother is only known as "Mrs. Powers", then in his |relatives= parameter she would be shown as Mother. 1.4.11. |romance= shows all the character's romantic relationships, past and present. It should be ordered first by importance (spouses before boyfriends), then by chronology. One or two word descriptors should be used to classify the relationship, such as "(husband)", "(ex-wife)", or simply the word "(dated)" instead of "(boyfriend)". For smaller and more nuanced details, citations should be used to prove the relationship. Big relationships, such as Jane and David, don't need to be proved. The template should be used here, too. 1.4.12. |first appearance= and |final appearance= are the only areas in the infobox in which issue numbers can be explicitly stated outside tags. If an issue in Elwood, the issue number should be linked, followed by a colon, and the issue's unlinked title in italics (Ex: Issue 009: Alan's Plea). If it is in Elwood High, just the linked issue number is appropriate. 2. The lede (For this section, the charcter of Francine Frensky will be used to build an example lede.) 2.1. The lede is the very first sentence of the article. The first words should be the character's full name, including everything we know. This includes middle names and heavily-used nicknames, which are placed right before the surname and after all middle names (Edward Edsel "Ed" Crosswire). The name should be bold, and cited. :Francine Alice FrenskyIssue 201, panel 5 2.2. After the name, a verb should be use reflecting the character's life status: "is" or "was". If the life status is unclear, use "is". :Francine Alice FrenskyIssue 201, panel 5 is 2.3. The very first description of the character should be their general age, sex, then species. (Ex: "young female bear" or "adult male monkey"). :Francine Alice FrenskyIssue 201, panel 5 is a young female monkey 2.4. The next thing stated should be their occupation or something equivalent. Basically, what they are doing on a daily basis. Other notable descriptors, such as "wealthy", can be included here. :Francine Alice FrenskyIssue 201, panel 5 is a young female monkey and student at Elwood City High School. 2.5. The next part of the first paragraph should describe the most important parts of their character. If they have family members that are also signifigant characters, that relation should be mentioned here. Big events that occured in an issue should not necessarily be mentioned yet. Besdies the name, you don't have to cite anything in the first paragraph. 2.6. The second paragraph of the article usually describes the character's personality or how they are perceived by other people. 2.7. The third paragraph describes the biggest and most important events that took place during Elwood or Elwood High. Broadly describe a character's overarching plotlines (such as Catherine's obsession with Chip), the states of their relationships (Jane and David's abusive marriage), or big changes in their lives. You will probably have to cite in this paragraph because it is referencing specific events in the series. 3. The biography 3.1. The biography should almost always begin with an Early life section, describing their birth dates, their parents, their families, where they lived, etc. 3.2. The next sections of the biography are just chronological summaries of what the character did throughout Elwood. Issues are never explicitly stated in the biography, but events should always be cited with the issue they took place in. Only specifically cite a panel of an issue if you are singling out a precise quote or name or instance. Citations always go after all punctuation. 3.2.1. Summaries should be written from the rough point of view of the article's character. If a character did not specifically experience something and never learned about it, it shouldn't be in the biography. 3.3. Images that show the entire panel (cropped images within panels are usually not preferred) should be sprinkled throughout the biography, alternating sides and at a reasonable width (no more than 200px). Captions should describe what is happening relative to the article's character. 4. The trivia section 4.1. Relevant facts about the character that did not have a relevant spot in the infobox or the biography. Stating issue numbers here is no big deal, but only do it when it is the only way of placing time. 5. The genealogy section 5.1. If a character has a large family and that family already has a family tree template, it can be placed here. This section will probably be phased out soon in favor of putting family trees in collapsible boxes at the bottom of articles. 6. The relationships section 6.1. Since the |romance= section does not have too much room, this section gives more depth to relationships that are often complicated in Elwood. Use existing relationship sections (such as this) to model the table off of. Issue numbers can and should be explicitly stated here. 7. The appearances section 7.1. Use the template to make an appearance chart for a character. Use "y" for a full appearance, "m" for a mention or indirect mention, and "n" for a Type III appearance (basically any appearance that is not a full appearance or verbal mention). 7.2. Since Type III appearances usually need to be elaborated, make a simple bulleted list under the template and say "In Issue ###, this character's name is seen in writing only". Also use this bulleted method for indirect mentions that need to be explained. 8. The accolades section 8.1. See this section to model the accolades section. This section merely lists the nominations and wins a character received at the Woody Awards. 9. The references section 9.1. All you need to do here is write at the very bottom of the page, and everything is handled. 9.2. If reference lists get too long, do can you this and make it two columns. 9.3. If you need to use notes (citations that explain or elaborate something instead of giving evidence for something), change the template at the bottom of the page to this and use this tag . 10. Listing categories 10.1. All character articles should have the cateogry "Characters". 10.2. Sex and species should have categories ("Males" and "Bears"). 10.3. Where the character currently lives or has lived in the past should have categories. For example, David would have both "Elwood City residents" and "Crown City residents" categories. No "past" or "current" or anything. 10.4. If their birth year is known, add the category "#### births". Do the same if the birth month is known. If their birth cannot be pinned down to one year or one month, just don't bother with these categories. This same goes for death: "#### deaths". 10.5. Race should have categories, always with the word "people": "White people", "Black people". If someone is mixed race, add both categories and also "Mixed-race people". 10.6. Species should have categories in the plural form: "Bears", "Monkeys", "Aardvarks". If someone is a halfbreed, add both or all species categories and also add "Halfbreeds". 10.7. Occupation and schools should have categories. Only categorizes occupations that are common and have other characters in that category, such as "Doctors". There should not be a category for "Stay-at-home tax accounts," for example. List all schools someone attended without regard for whether or not they are still enrolled: "Lakewood Elementary School students", "Elwood City High School students". 10.8. Use "Parents" if the person is a parent, and add all the families they are a member of ("Read family"). If a person is married into a family, that only extends one degree. For example, Serenity Ratburn would be in the "Ratburn family" and "Sweetwater family" but her mother Mrs. Sweetwater would only be in the "Sweetwater family".